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24 Aug 2012, 12:15

My GMAT is on october 9th at 8 AM. I'm not a morning person, but that was the only time slot available. Pretty furious that they would schedule such a critical exam that early in the morning, but what can you do. Aside from the obvious good night's rest, what else can i do to get my mind sharp for the morning test?

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24 Aug 2012, 12:38

Arbitrageur wrote:

My GMAT is on october 9th at 8 AM. I'm not a morning person, but that was the only time slot available. Pretty furious that they would schedule such a critical exam that early in the morning, but what can you do. Aside from the obvious good night's rest, what else can i do to get my mind sharp for the morning test?

If you aren't a morning person you need to make sure to get up at least 2 hours before the test to give your mind time to get working. I had mine at 8 AM and got up at 5:15 I think (had to drive about 20 minutes to my test center too). Make sure to eat a good breakfast with plenty of protein. But more than anything make sure to take a couple practice exams at that time. Get up at the time you plan to wake up, go through your whole routine (breakfast etc) and get used to what you will go through on test day. Don't make the actual exam your first time doing this. Get up at 6 on a couple saturdays or sundays and start the practice test at 8 AM sharp. I found writing down my schedule and what I ate, including snacks and the amount of water I drank, during the practice exams really helped. For the first couple of practice tests I had to pee really bad during AWA/IR and towards the end of quant, but when I figured out how much water to drink and when it wasn't an issue. Also figured out what snacks worked well for me (nuts and chocolate good, gatorade bad).

But mainly just try it out a few times and see how it works for you. I didn't think I was a morning person before but through studying figured out that is when I work best. Good luck.

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My GMAT is on october 9th at 8 AM. I'm not a morning person, but that was the only time slot available. Pretty furious that they would schedule such a critical exam that early in the morning, but what can you do. Aside from the obvious good night's rest, what else can i do to get my mind sharp for the morning test?

Not great to get a time slot that you're not comfortable with. But if this is out of your control, make sure you practice waking up early the week before, especially if you are not used to waking up so early. Get into a breakfast routine and start your morning with some light stretches to wake your body up.

Definitely get used to how it feels to do brain-intensive GMAT questions early in the morning. You don't want to study everyday in the afternoon / evening and then all of a sudden sit for the real thing early at 8AM.

So condition your body and mind as best you can several days before your actual exam.
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